54 ways to make the customer experience better

We were snowbound at a corporate retreat in Princeton, New Jersey. We had exhausted the formal agenda and were waiting to hear if the snowploughs had freed the I-95 so that we could get to the airport and go home.

So we were having a few beers and having a general discussion about what works for us in business when Kevin, an experienced colleague who worked in our manufacturing practice, said something so true and so simple that it has stuck with me at every step of my career since.

We were talking about creating and keeping customer relationships, and he said: “Every time I’m going to meet someone for business, before I go in, I ask myself, ‘how can I create value for them in this meeting?’ If I can do this, I know they’ll want to meet me again. They’ll learn to trust me. And, when the time is right, they’ll buy from me.”

The snowploughs came and we put down our beers and caught our planes home, but his simple mantra – ‘how can I create value for my customers each time we meet?’ – has served me well since then.

Because this is the secret of customer experience.

If we want to make the customer experience better, it’s simple. We make every customer encounter something that our customer values. Then we repeat for every step of the encounter.

Offering control to our customer (of the conversation, of the transaction)

Making it so that there is only one way for the customer to do something – and it’s always good

Being patient

Making it easy to pay

Making it easy to get money back

Pricing fairly

Being consistent

Making it easy to talk to a person (if that is what our customer wants)

Making it easy not to have to talk to a person (if that is what our customer wants)

Making it easy for the customer to change their mind

Welcoming returns with a smile

Improvising if the customer needs it

Anticipating their questions (nicely)

Listening to them. REALLY listening. (Note: this one is hard).

Being honest

If we can’t do it, saying so

If someone else can do it better or cheaper, saying so

Pricing things in ways that are clear and easy to understand

No surprises – being up front with bad news and what we are doing to fix it

If there is a quick or cheap fix for their problem, solving it for them

Refusing to sell them the wrong thing

Keeping our promises, no matter how small (especially the small ones)

Being interesting

Being funny (but not offensive)

Speak about their problems more than our solutions

Helping

Explaining what is happening and what will happen next

Putting ourselves in their shoes

Giving them meaningful choices

Tailoring what we do to what they want

Keeping their anonymity (if that is what they want)

Reassuring them

Taking responsibility for sorting things out, even if it is not our fault

Solving their problems quickly and consistently

Giving them something

Offering something extra (a lagniappe, for example)

Giving away insight or knowledge because the customer needs help

Letting them take the credit

Giving them things because we think they might like them

Making it cheaper because they’ve come back

Accepting that if they have got things wrong, it’s our fault for allowing it to happen

Speed

Being fast

Being instant

Letting them be slow. Waiting for them. Patiently. And with a smile.

Being convenient in ways that matter to them

Asking them how quickly they want it and getting it to them whenever they say

Each of these will make the customer experience better. Better, customers will value dealing with us. And if there’s value, they’ll be willing to buy from us. And they’ll want to do it again. And this is the bottom-line reason why customer experience matters.